One fourth of the year is over!!AaahhhSo what does that mean for my goals for the year? I should be 1/4th done with them right??

Well… let’s see.

Things I HAVE accomplished:I taught a class for Indy Trade School (boy I was a nervous wreck!)I’ve released 2 new sewing patterns so farI’ve taken a photography classI’ve applied for craft showsI made business cards and I streamlined my shipping processI’ve created a spreadsheet with all the details that go into pricing, to get me on track to pricing correctly (and then onto paying myself for my work)I ran a 10KI volunteered for a gardenI started my wedding quiltI patterned a skirt for myselfI’ve read 3 (printed, physical) books so far.

Things I CANNOT accomplish:Things change, and that's ok. One of my goals for the year was to run Steve's Run, one of my favorite road races. But Already I know that this won't happen because we have a wedding that day! It was a nice goal, but it will just have to wait until next year.

Things I MIGHT NOT accomplish:I’ve had a realization about some of my goals: They aren’t in my control. This might have been quite obvious to an outsider, but it wasn’t obvious to me when I made the goal. One of the goals that falls into this category is: SELL ONE ITEM EVERY MONTH (even the slow months). Problem: This isn’t actually in my control. I mean, I knew this ahead of time, I knew that I can’t force sales or somehow magically control when someone decides it is time to buy. But I figured there were plenty of things in my control: putting up items consistently, creating new products, blogging, social media posts, having the right key words on Etsy, shop updates, promoting myself, emails (etc. etc.) And all these things do help to bring in sales, so I figured setting a goal of getting sales would inspire me to keep up with all these different tasks. But then March happened. I listed several new items, renewed several more, blogged, emailed, and posted updates. And I got great results in views and favorites! I haven’t had that many eyeballs on my shop since October of last year (and October is my busy month!) But no sales came! This is when I realized that I didn’t actually have control over this goal. (duh) I DID end up getting a sale in March, on the very last day of the month actually (funny how things happen). But in the end, I may reach this goal, or I may not. I guess this is one of those times that reaching the goal isn’t actually the point. I would like my sales to come in more consistently throughout the year, and it’s the constant striving for this goal that (hopefully) pays off in the end.

My overall feelings: I’ve made good progress, but I have a long way to go in these last 3/4 of the year!